TILOS Island

Greek island ready for switch to renewable energy storage

A renewable energy revolution is happening on the remote Greek island of Tilos, near Rhodes, where the country’s first hybrid, renewable energy-based battery station and smart microgrid will begin construction this summer.

This represents the centrepiece of the TILOS project, which aims to demonstrate how islands can move away from relying on expensive and polluting oil-based energy imports, avoid power cuts and contribute towards renewable energy growth.

With a population of around 400, Tilos is currently supplied with oil-based electricity from neighbouring Kos via an undersea cable that is however vulnerable to faults. To address this, the TILOS project has designed a battery-based storage system that will in effect turn the island into a resilient RES-based microgrid using only wind and solar power. A smart energy management system will be able to isolate the island in the event of a cable fault and reconnect it to Kos as soon as the fault is restored.

Once up and running the TILOS system will cover approximately 70% of local demand in stand-alone operation, with the vision being to get close to 100% in the near future. The commercial potential of this model could be significant given the number of Greek islands that currently depend on oil-based energy imports. The project has created a platform involving Pellworm, La Graciosa and Corsica to share implementable results with other European islands.